smokerblog

No Candy for You

Every Halloween, we take part in the supply end of the ritual mass distribution of tooth-rotting confections, dropping a single nugget of some Nestle or Hershey product into each plastic bag or pillowcase held open before us by the various and sundry princesses, ballerinas, witches, mummies, ladybugs, Frankensteins, Incredible Hulkses, Harry Potterses, and other less identifiable creatures that tromp through our flower garden to get to our front door.

There is no ringing of doorbells, though. Oh no, one of us is stationed on the front porch for as long as the candy lasts. Beginning at around 6PM, there is a more or less constant stream of candy-seeking trolls and goblins moving from house to house.

We live just across the highway from one of the poorer sections of the city so the vast majority of our trick-or-treaters are bussed in via vans and pick-ups, deposited on one end of our street, and picked up again at the other end. One year, I lost count at 275 by 7:30. This year, probably owing to the balmy weather, the approximately 300 pieces of candy we had purchased ran out after only an hour. Luckily, we were able to escape into the house and shut the lights off during a gap in the flow; otherwise, the "tricks" part of the bargain may have been implemented against us.

So yeah, we were lame--derelict in our Halloween duties. Even worse, we have no leftover candy! Luckily, there are others in the Rochester area who know how to have a proper Halloween.